The ten finalists for the Emmy for best comedy series are announced. My five would be Curb Your Enthusiasm, Flight of the Conchords, The Office, 30 Rock and um... Weeds, I guess?

England create a website that encourages tourism by emphasizing the country's rich comedy history. Take a virtual tour yourself at Comedy England.

Katt Williams close to a deal with Comedy Central. Includes a new special and a pilot for what might be a sketch comedy show. Did he call Chappelle first?

Paul F Tompkins #2: "The kind of comedy that I do now, is not a party. There’s guys that say, 'Yeah, when I do my show it’s like a party.' Well my show is a comedy show. It’s not a fucking party. If you want to go to a party, go to a party." (SF Standup)

Paul F. Tompkins #1: "You must be honest with yourself. 'Could I have done anything differently?' 'Did I really EARN that response?' Get into the habit of being your own harshest critic to make sure that you can sleep soundly at night." (Zulkey)

The Bastion details Chicago comic Matt Braunger's great month (or so). Appeared on Live at Gotham, won Best of Fest in Aspen and now, joining the cast of MADtv.

Todd Barry "I never in my life once said "I want to be a comedian for a living". I kind of just started and didn't stop, and at some point I realised I guess I'm doing this." (UK Guardian)

Jim Carrey returning to stand-up roots in a pilot for HBO. The show will be about a woman who unexpectedly becomes a mother figure to stand-up after inheriting a comedy club (a la the Comedy Store's Mitzi Shore.) Lisa Lampanelli set to star.

"Get Smart" bests "Love Guru" at the box office. Besides having a trailer that appeared to recycle "Austin Powers", Mike Myers' "Love Guru" received vicious bad reviews from critics,

Boston's Comedy Connection robbed. The robber, who assaulted the club's manager, got away with an unspecified amount of cash.

The panelists for the new "Match Game" include Sarah Silverman, Norm MacDonald and Super Dave Osborne. With Robert Smigel producing and Andrew Daly hosting, the show sounds just perfect.

Tonight in NYC: Mike Birbiglia and Stephen Lynch perform at Central Park Summerstage for a free concert. 7:30 PM.

George Carlin will receive the 2008 Mark Twain award from the Kennedy Center. Carlin to Twain: "“have your people call my people."

Steve Carell says he'll be on The Office for at least three more years. In fact, all the "main cast" will be. Seven seasons - that should be enough.

Two of the four members of the new Edinburgh Comedy Festival are threatened with losing their lease if their fest damages the long-running Fringe festival. There's concern from the city that the comedy festivities could up and move to a new town.

John Cleese is working on a Fish Called Wanda musical. Doesn't sound like he's far along... still working out where all the songs will go.

The Examiner outlines five things you know about Chicago comedy. My favorite is #3, because it points out how special it is to be in a "process" vs. a "product" town.

Jimmy Pardo on being a bad host: "...you’ll often see a young emcee get introduced, say “What’s up?” and launch immediately into his act. And then the audience is like, “Jesus Christ, what’s happening?” They don’t even have time to adjust." (SF Standup)

Robin Williams will play lead in the dark comedy World's Greatest Dad about a father using his son's death by masturbation incident to advance his own writing ambitions. Windy City Heat's Bobcat Goldthwait will direct.

New Releases: On CD, Kathy Griffin's For Your Consideration and on DVD, Godfrey: Godspeed and Doug Benson's Super High Me.

Judah Friedlander basically does his act in print (well, pixels) for an interviewer at New York magazine. It translate pretty well, but what do you expect? The guy's the World Champion.

The film program of Montreal's Just for Laugh fest will open with a screening of Pineapple Express. Also part of the program will be Rainn Wilson's Rocker and the animated Space Chimps

Sacha Baron Cohen's follow up to Borat gets a release date,,, Bruno will come out May 15th, 2009. Hope homophobia lasts long enough for it to still be funny...

Larry the Cable Guy establishs a new website that'll give fans, along with exclusive content and networking , a chance to buy advance tickets and members only merchandise. The name: gitrdone.com, naturally.

The Chinese government blocks the web site for Comedy Central. No rationale yet discovered for the censorship, save for the standard irreverence.

We know nothing about the upcoming midseason "The Office" spinoff except Aziz Ansari will be part of the cast. But that's reason enough to watch.

More details on Judd Apatow stand-up comedy movie. Title: "Funny People" About: A comic who has a near death experience. Cast additions: Eric Bana, Jason Schwartzman and Jonah Hill.

Seth Rogen turns a web short into a film deal. "Jay and Seth vs. The Apocalypse" is a comedy about two friends trapped together during the end of the world who can no longer stand each other. Watch the short here.

Comedy writers dress shlubby, right? Don't assume it though. Cheers writer Ken Levine tells a story of how he used the wardrobe department to prank a GQ photographer.

With Spaced DVDs "dropping" soon, series director Edgar Wright will sit down for a discussion with South Park's Matt Stone at the LA Filmfest on June 24. Tickets can be purchased here.